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Space Fleet Space-Log Episode 26
Special Double Episode 26! - With Pathos! / Future Tentacle Plans / Ironic Prostatarium / Turn up the Pink! / (Marines, Space Marines; Dungeon to Crawl You) Spacedate: 4257.095.08.00 Episode 26 sees our Protagonists aboard the Boreas in orbit of Laak 5. They are sent for a morning briefing with Sgt Johnson wherein he awards the team a Unit Commendation for their work at the Sigma Exodus Outpost, and sends them for two 4-Hour Blocks in the Hypnotron, (Characters can learn the Non-Gate Specialty awarded at the end of last week and one other Skill. Note that PCs can choose to undergo the procedure now and hold off on choosing their Specialty until later, if desired). Dr. Mordin approves the procedure grudgingly, muttering something under his breath about Permanent Brain Damage. Spacedate : 4257.095.16.25 Master Chief Scotty summoned the Squad to the Hanger Bay to show off some new upgrades to the Marine Shuttle, including a new SFMC Paint Job, (was Space-Fleet), and a Large Air Lock with room to bring Ray's Construct on board. The Crew mused that this probably meant that they would never be trusted with another Red-Shirt again. The Marines were then granted a level 6 Requisition and 2 Four Hour Blocks and a couple of Blocks for sleep, (after a Critical Fail on a Group Beguile to try & get another Block in the Hypnotron they all had to sign waivers indemnifying Space Fleet in the event of future Brain Damage). Spacedate: 4257.096.08.00 Bright and early the next morning the Delta-Squad Space Marines departed the en-route to the MDMX-3794 Mining Facility on Laak 5s' Western Continent. They noted via aerial observation that the Base was walled with a tall perimeter of what looked like shipping containers, welded together. There also appeared to be a series of tubes running through the Compound that disappeared underground at each end, (but with openings in them inside the Base). Some quick Structural Design & Construction work by Braxxz led them to believe that these were probably some sort of Transit Tunnels, used to transport ore during the Mine's heyday a thousand years ago. One of them appeared to re-surface at the designated Landing Pad, out a ways away beyond the perimeter, potentially providing access inside? The Marines however, were unwilling to risk the Transit Tunnels, so instead they buzzed the Compound with the Shuttle, then jumped out directly into the middle of the Base, (leaving the Shuttle hovering overhead!). As the Squad moved directly towards the abandoned ship in the middle of the area that appeared to be the center of the emergency beacon transmission, a group of deranged looking Subsistence Miners confronted them! The Miners looked to be armed with Tech-Master level analogue weapons, including what appeared to be high-powered Air Rifles and Shishkebab style Flame-Swords. Things were looking like they were going to get violent, but after a Group-Beguile that could have gone either way, Ray scored a natural 20 to resolve the issue, talking down the hostile locals once again. After re-assuring them again that yes they were really here to fix the Ultra-Net, the Miners were convinced to cooperate, going so far as to not only draw a crude but somewhat detailed map of the Sub-Level of the Mine where the Local-Node was, (showing the locations of both the Power Nodes that needed to be de-virused and the Sub-Com Node itself), but also bothered to mention that no one who had descended to the lower levels since the virus hit had come back up. Pressed for a more detailed explanation of the hazards awaiting the Squad in the depths of the Ancient Mine, Rock-Falls, Explosions, Poison Gas and Hostile Creatures bursting forth from the very rock itself were all mentioned. Spacedate: 4257.096.08.47 With some help from the Miners and the wonders of Leverage, Delta Squad forced open the Elevator Platform in the center of the courtyard enough that the medium sized Marines could get through, (Zorff Translocated Ray's giant Construct through). Using Sprout's group Aracnimotion, they all scurried down the deep vertical shaft to the prescribed Level. Prying this door open as well, they moved out cautiously into the subterranean area. It appeared to be some sort of Service or Administration Level, as, although it was carved out of solid rock, it was relatively clean and uniform, with exposed Conduits running along the corridor. Keeping an eye-stalk peeled for Conduit Worms, Sprout moved ahead scouting the way towards a thousand year old door that looked like it had been used much more recently than that. Zorff used his Unbar Psionic to open it, then they all moved through, the clanging of the boots of Ray's giant Construct Armor seeming to echo endlessly through the dark stillness. Suddenly Zorf and Braxxz realized that the echoing was actually blending into the rumbling noise of an Ultra-Borg Bulette smashing out of the wall and floor and sneak attacking Sprout and Ray! It Criticalled Sprout for 20 Damage, which would have left him at one DC on his personal, but he used his dastardly Blood-Mage power to ignore the Hit. Despite its intensely Armor-Piercing properties, the Beak attack against Ray went off of his armor, (although only thanks to his Dreadnought Brace for Impact Power). While Sprout sproinked his Mystic Skin up the beast attacked Ray with its Beak again, (but of course he just unleashed his BFI again). Then it it clawed Zorff using its natural weapons adorned with misleadingly-undersized Puny Twirly Claws, but he couldn't Defend even w/ a Benny, taking significant damage. Then Sprout unleashed his Stunning Jab Flurry, followed up with a Critical on the Reverse Punch! Soon the en-Borgenated creature was beset by all kinds of Cold, Stun & Shock. Braxxz made called shots into the melee with his pistol but didn't hit anyone. When the Bulette fumbled against Ray he retaliated by Arc Lightninging it repeatedly by bouncing it off of his own armor, (to no effect). It barely survived the barrage, and was then immediately finished off when it fumbled its Defend into Braxxz' Pistol Shot, ending the fight off as quickly as it began. 1 Combat Awarded Braxx managed to de-virus the first Power Node, (despite Sprout's failure to assist, then the Squad proceeded through the next room, which opened into a hallway with a series of strange Field Emitter looking things down each side. The next Power-Node was at the end of the hallway. Concerned about potential Ultron related mishaps, (or perhaps smelling an Arbiter Trap), Zorf started blasting them with his Blunderbuss! He missed off of the Emitter's AC repeatedly, then Fumbled, but eventually managed to destroy them all, leaving flaming masses of twisted metal in their place. (Arbiter's note: no specific properties had been assigned to the random blue lines that appeared in this room on the map I pirated from the Internet with minimal modifications). The noise however, attracted 3 Ultra-Borg Carrion Crawlers, which crawled up out of the drains and attacked! Spacedate: 4257.096.08.55 Alarmed by the one that appeared behind the group, boxing them in, Zorf started a Flurry on it, knocking it Prone. It followed up with a Natural One Defend, so Zorf continued to beat it down. The next Crawler, which had emerged in the middle of the group, tentacled Sprout, but it sucked and he Defended. The last one, (closest to the Power Node), attacked Ray with a mighty Mawing, forcing him to double dreadnought. It was noticed by the Squad that the Crawler's tentacle-claw attacks were Poison 10, and that they should be avoided at all cost! Braxx fired his Pistol at the one that Zorf was blasting at, but it soundly Defended. At this point Ray's Initiative finally arrived, so he squad commanded without Zorf's assistance. Braxxz immediately used it to hit, then followed up with a double-tap. Ray was attacked twice, but thanks to the upgraded Buffer on his Construct he avoided being hit yet again. One fumbled against Braxxz, and then Saved vs. Sprout's Quantum Deceleration. Ray fired up his Arc Lightning again, hitting the first target, but the Carrion Crawlers were quite Defendy, and the next one managed to break the chain. Then the first one took a big bite out of Zorff, while Sprout Squad Command Defended to avoid a double tentacle attack. The middle one attempted to bite Braxxz with its Poison-Dripping Maw, (but he Acrobatically Defended), then it simultaneously double tentacle attacked Zorff, leaving him super poisoned. The middle one Natural One Defended against Braxxz, who immediately double tapped for extra Damage. Finally Zorf took the first one out, leaving its corpse with Burn 18 as a parting gift. Sprout fumbled on the next guy, then Bennied, but still missed. Brax kept bursting as Sprout ran in, striking him, but he defended! Rayy rolled a Natural One and a 2 on his next Paired Strike, but Bennied, to hit. Braxx rolled shitty on his next Strike as well, but when he Bennied for he got a Natural 20. Ray killed another one, then Zorff & Braxxz started double teaming the last one, (leaving him at a sliver), then Zorff ended him in another burning pile. 1 Combat Awarded Spacedate: 4257.096.08.56 Braxxz de-virused the second Power-Node w/ R'ay-Mann's help, then the crew moved on to find the next one. Back tracking to the chamber with elevator, the Squad moved off in the other direction. As the approached the Node, Sprout decided to investigate a large grate in the floor, disturbing an Ultra-Borg Rust Monster! (None of the canny PCs were fooled for a moment by the Token being labelled simply as "Ultra-Borg Monster", with multiple immediately identifying the source material from the graphic). Of course it immediately jumped up and attacked him, its terrible secretions dissolving his Shock Gauntlet. Turning to face this newest distraction, the Marines started to unleash their vengeance. First Zorff Criticaled it, then it would've hit Ray, but he Dreadnoughted it off. Then Braxxz and Sprout both hit it, followed by Ray and Sprout, who put it out of their misery. Sprout and the rest of the crew looked in horror at the puddle of sludge that used to be his valuable Psionic Weapon, then proceeded to de-virus the third Power-Node. The Marines moved on to the room where the next Power Node was supposed to be located, but when they wrenched open the hatch it it was full of 4 more Ultra-Borg Rust Monsters! The Squad talked about closing the door and regrouping, and also considered both charging in and falling back, but in the end decided that the best gambit was to plug the opening with Ray in his giant Construct and hope that his towering AC would hold them off. The Flea-like Monsters were slowish off of the mark, giving R'ay & Zorf plenty of time to Squad Command for once, (and for the whole plus 4 this time). Braxxz slipped a grenade past Ray with a Called Shot, rocking the area, and the Borgs could not escape the Area of Effect with R'ay blocking the Door. Finally the first two pounced on Ray, but his armor proved up to the task. Noticing how effective Braxxz' AoE strike was with the foes boxed up in the small room, Ray unleashed his new Aurora Curtain Spell Node, filling the whole room with scintillating pink (not-meat) curtains of Energy. One of them Natural 20 Defended, but still couldn't get out of the Area of Effect, so took full damage thanks to Ray's heavy armor ability to that effect. Then Braxx threw another grenade past Ray, hitting 2 for full damage, and 2 for half damage. Sprout and Zorf were kind of out of the fight with R'ay jammed in the doorway and Braxxz hurling grenades past him willy-nilly, but given the Rust-Borg's ability to melt equipment they decided that they were OK with that, (Zorff backing up the whole way across the adjacent room in the process). Ray withstood another wave of attacks thanks to his upgraded Buffer, and simultaneously squailed one as it cycled away to let the next one in when it Natural 1 Defended in to his Free Strike. Just then, an Ultra-Borg Umberhulk opened the door behind Zorf, (who had failed repeated Perception Checks and had essentially backed right into it). Braxxz was still distracted by the Rust Monsters, shooting past Ray to strike the one that was severely Shocked, but it was still able to Defend. The Umber Hulk smoked Zorf hard as he moved back towards the group, (still clusterblunderbussing at the Rust Monsters), charging in after him as he backpeddled towards the rest of the group. Ray Aurora Curtained again, hitting all 3 of the remaining Rust Monsters, (2 of them rolling Natural 1 to Defend). At this point Sprout started a Flurry on the freshly delivered via Zorff Umberhulk, Jabing him for armor-pirceing stunnyness, then following with the Reverse Punch. Ray tried to hit another Ultra-Borg Rust Monster as they cycled in an out, but it Natural Defended 20'd away. Braxx lit up on the Umberhulk with a Called Shot, but rolled multiple 2s, (with a Benny!), while Zorf hit with his Squad Command bonus. Ray continued spamming the Aurora Curtain, killing another Rust Monster. The Umberhulk Paired-Pincered Sprout, hitting him for major Damage, then Mandibled at Zorf simultaneously, Armor-Piecing him for a huge strike. Things were looking a bit scary with the Umberhulk rampaging about dealing big Damage, but then Sprout let loose with the Jab-Stun Lock, forcing his foe to delay Initiative again and again. Ray let loose with his Aurora Curtain one last time killing both of the remaining Ultra-Borg Rust Monsters. Zorf Translocated clear of the Umberhulk, but was hit again on his way out, while Braxxz continued his multi-pistol barrage, (successfully Striking). Zorf launched a burst into the crowd but also hit; to everyone's relief there was no friendly-fire incident. Braxxz was the next to enjoy the Ultra-Borg Double Pincer attack, initially getting hit twice, but he managed to squeeze a Gymnastic-Acrobatic Defend enough to avoid one of them. Finally Zorf finished it off with his continued burst. 1 Combat Awarded Spacedate: 4257.096.09.03 Now thoroughly Splattered in Umbergore, the Marines cautiously moved into the Rust-Monster room, (carefull to avoid the corpses which were somehow both Crispy and Gooey at the same time). They were able to de-virus the Power-Node without incident, then moved on through the door that the Umberhulk had come in through to look for the Com-Node room. The Squad found what they were looking for around one more corner, but the door to the Chamber had a higher level lock than Zorf could Un-Bar. Braxxz rolled a 1 on his computer Ops Check to de-virus the now powered up locking system so that he could try to by-pass it with his Electronics Skill, so the team instead permanently disassembled it with their Mechanics Skill. No additional foes were in evidence, so they moved in and de-virused the ancient Com-Node. Spacedate: 4257.096.09.16 With all of the underground systems now fully functional, the Delta Squad Marines returned to the surface via the Elevator shaft, (and Arachnimotion). Once the Tachyon Antenna was repaired the Miners were hooked up to the Ulra-Net 2.0, all of them of course immediately diving for thier Multi-Tools. Checking in with Control, Zorf tried to talk his way into an extra 4 Hour Block for the group, but rolled a Natural 1 :( . Fortunately Anya was so stunned by how terrible his feeble attempt was that she covered for them anyway. They decided to try and land the Shuttle in the cluttered Courtyard so that the Miners could load it up with the vast majority of their meager Dysprosium 66 supply, but unfortunately Ray crashed the Shuttle trying to land it, doing some significant Damage to both it and to one of the derelict Ships being used as Hab-Modules for the Base. The Arbiter's fault I'm sure for not making a Map for the Transit Tunnels or (again), the Landing Pad. While the Miners fixed the Shuttle and loaded it up, the Marines snuck in a 4-Hour Block As an additional measure of their gratitude, the Miners also built everybody in the Squad a level 9 Tech-Master Project. Spacedate: 4257.096.13.28 Once the Shuttle was, (mostly), fixed and loaded up it was time to return to the Boreas. After the de-briefing, Ray is awarded a Commendation for Holding the Door, (Insert Played-Out Hodor Joke Here), against the equipment-dissolving Ultra-Borg Rust Monsters. Master Chief Scotty was not pleased about the damage to the Shuttle, (or the repairs performed by non-Star-Fleet Personnel), but Ray made a good Beguile, (backed up with a Space-Fleet.Lore), so he accepted that In-Mission Parameters don't always line up with the Pre-Mission Scenario Planning, and the work seemed to check-out OK, (the new Marine Corps Paint-Job is a bit the worse for ware though). The Marines were reminded however that leaving the Shuttle hovering and unattended is contrary to standard protocol, due to the increased likelihood of equipment or personnel damage in the event of any sort of system malfunction. With that, the Boreas breaks orbit and heads towards Laak 6. During the first 2 days of the journey the Marines get Two 4-Hour Blocks, but in the meantime Ray, tried to beguile Counselor Trois for a Block in the Hypnotron , but rolled a Natural One, Bennied, and rolled another natural One. Needless to say, the session did not go well, and he was required to come back for an extra session on his own time. Braxx didn't bother trying, Zorff Convinced Dr. Mordin to let only him have one, then Sprout succeeded in convincing Commander Petiole to try in influence Admiral Bar- for a block in the Hypnotron for the Whole Group, which she succeeded in doing. She also squeezed in an extra Block with Sprout via Counselor Trois. Episode 26 Epilogue Will the Foes roll as absolutely terrible next week as they did tonight? Tune in to find out! 35 Generic Points Awarded Back to Space-Log